Chief Constable Debbie Simpson, of the National Police Chiefs, said: ‘When disaster strikes families need to be confident that the authorities are doing everything they can to identify their loved ones in a dignified and respectful way, whilst supporting any criminal investigation.

‘Importantly this process cannot be hurried. As frustrating as this can sometimes be, especially in a world of fast paced mainstream and social media, we have to be meticulous in our approach to ensure we achieve reliable scientific identification.

Firefighters had to help identify victims (Picture: PA)

‘It’s not often we get to test working practices on such a scale and it’s really positive to see so many of our European colleagues involved. Effective evaluation and debriefing will help highlight good practice and any areas for development.’

UK-trained teams have helped out in the past at disasters including the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014 and the Shoreham Air Crash in August last year.